


Unsteady

by Brumeier



Series: Life With Eli [4]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Established Relationship, Family Feels, Hospitalization, M/M, Pneumonia, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 21:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13326810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: When his dad gets hospitalized, Jim deals with some unexpected emotions.





	Unsteady

**Author's Note:**

> Fills the pneumonia square of my h/c bingo card.

_Dad I know you're trying_  
 _To fight when you feel like flying_  
 _But if you love me_  
 _Don't let go_  
(X Ambassadors) 

The call came while Jim was interviewing a witness in a home invasion investigation. He ignored the ringing, continuing to question the Coopers' neighbor to see what she remembered about the van. Just because he was in business for himself these days didn't mean Jim wasn't still a consummate professional. 

But the phone kept ringing, and finally Mrs. Lester told him he may as well answer it while she got herself more tea. 

"I'm in the middle of something, Chief," Jim said. "I'll call you --" 

_Don’t panic, but you have to come to the hospital._

Everything else drained out of Jim's head in an instant and his grip tightened on his cell phone. 

"What happened? Is Eli okay?" 

_It's your dad, Jim. He's really sick._

"Dad?" It took Jim a second or two to switch mental gears. Eli was safe. 

_I'll explain when you get here_ , Blair said. _ICU waiting room_. 

Eli chimed in with, _Are you coming, Daddy? Can I have soda?_

"Only if Baba says so. I'm on my way." 

Jim made his apologies to Mrs. Lester, who waved him off and gave him a loaf of banana bread wrapped in aluminum foil. As he drove to the hospital, just within the speed limit, he wondered what could've happened to his father to send him to the hospital. Heart attack? Stroke? William Ellison was getting older, and his health was something he never discussed with anyone. Possibly not even his doctor, since Ellison men tended to eschew medical attention unless something was broken or in danger of falling off. 

Jim pulled into the visitor lot and the first empty spot he saw, almost forgetting to lock up the truck in his haste. Blair met him in the hallway just outside the waiting room, radiating calm in that way he had that was part Guide but mostly just Blair Sandburg. 

"Hey, Big Guy. What did you do, fly here?" He pulled Jim into a hug and rubbed his back. "Your dad's gonna be okay. They're taking good care of him." 

Jim looked over Blair's shoulder into the waiting room. Eli was sitting on the floor next to his backpack, which had spilled out a veritable army of plastic dinosaurs. He had his green sippy cup in one hand, and Jim could see Eli hadn't been able to convince Blair to let him have soda. 

"What happened?" Jim asked, pulling back. 

"Eli and I made cookies, and he wanted to take some over to Grandpa's." Blair ran a hand through his curly hair. "You know that cold he mentioned having? It turned into pneumonia. He was having trouble breathing, he was confused, and...well, let's just say we'll have to get someone in there to clean the place up. Someone not me." 

He shuddered and Jim was glad he hadn't been there. Even with smell dialed down in deference to all the antiseptic hospital odors, he could smell a very faint trace of it on Blair's clothes: the sour tang of vomit. 

"I called the ambulance, and as soon as we got here I called you. I left a message for your brother, too." 

"Daddy!" Eli pushed in between them. "Look! Cheesy crackers from the snack box!" 

"Vending machine," Blair corrected with a grin. "I had to get him something so he'd stop begging for a soda." 

Jim squatted down. "You doing okay, buddy?" He did a quick Sentinel scan, but Eli didn't seem to be showing any signs of distress over what had happened. 

"Grandpa gots sick, the kind with the pukes, and he gots to ride in the amb'lance, and they put the lights on! But he'll be okay, because Baba said so." 

"Ah, yes. The all-knowing Baba." Jim pressed a kiss to Eli's forehead. "Maybe later you can show me the snack box." 

Eli nodded. "I know where it is. I 'membered." He stuffed a handful of cheesy crackers in his mouth and ran back in the waiting room to play with his toys. 

Jim's knees twinged just a bit as he stood back up – his father wasn't the only one getting older – and he sighed. "Has the doctor come down yet?" 

Blair shook his head. "I'm sure he'll be here soon." 

They waited together, sitting side-by-side on the orange naugahyde chairs while Eli provided the sound effects for his dinosaurs. When the doctor finally did come, Blair took Eli and his backpack full of dinosaurs to get lunch down in the cafeteria so Jim could have some time alone with his father. 

"We'll be right downstairs if you need us," Blair said. 

"I know." Jim wasn't much for public displays, but he kissed Blair and accepted another hug. "Thanks." 

The doctor explained that William was at a higher risk for complications due to his age, and that they'd put him on a ventilator because he was having so much trouble breathing. But the coughing had eased, and they had him on antibiotics, and the overall prognosis was positive, all things considered. If he had gone untreated one more day, though…well, Jim wasn’t going to think about that. 

Even knowing what to expect – it wasn't Jim's first time visiting someone in the ICU – he wasn't prepared to see his father lying in the hospital bed, looking so small and vulnerable. William had a ventilator mask covering his mouth and nose, and he was hooked up to a heart monitor, an IV, and he'd been cathed. 

Jim took a deep breath to steady his nerves. He didn't recall a time when his father had been ill, or laid up in any way. It was disconcerting to see him like that now. 

"Hey, Dad." Jim sat in the chair next to the bed. William turned his head, and offered up a weak smile behind the mask. 

He'd been such a commanding man when Jim was growing up. A real hardass, if Jim was being honest. It had taken a lot of years, and a lot of intervention on Blair's part, to get Jim and his dad to a place where they could be friendly to each other. There was still a lifetime of hurt between them, but now it was tempered by William's affection for Eli and his acceptance of Blair and Blair's place in Jim's life. 

Suddenly it all seemed so fleeting. 

Jim reached for his dad's hand, heartened when his dad squeezed back. "The doc says you're going to be okay, but it was a close call. You should've called me. I'd have taken you to the doctor." 

William twitched his shoulder in a shrug. Jim knew it wasn't the time, but as soon as his father was feeling better they were going to talk about assisted living. Between work and his family, Jim just wasn't able to be there every day. But clearly someone needed to be, because his father wasn't taking proper care of himself. 

"When they let you out of here, I want you to come stay with Blair and me. Just for a few days, until you're back on your feet again." He could tell his father wanted to protest, and was glad the ventilator kept him from doing so. "It would make Eli feel better." 

Jim wasn't above using his son to get his way, and William gave him a narrow-eyed look that said he knew he was being played. It wasn’t even really a lie, because Eli loved spending time with his grandpa. 

"Don't try to argue, Dad. If I can't convince you, Blair will talk you into it. You know how he gets." 

William rolled his eyes, and Jim huffed out a laugh. Never in a million years would he have imagined that his neo-hippy Guide/husband and his buttoned-down father would get along so well, but Blair pulled things out of William that Jim never even knew existed. So did Jim's son. Sometimes it was hard watching William play with Eli, because he'd never made that kind of time for Jim and his brother when they were growing up. He wondered if that little knob of resentment would ever go away. 

On the other hand, he was glad Eli had such an attentive, involved, loving grandfather. And he wanted his dad to be around for all of the things Eli would be doing in the future. Whatever his other faults, and there were many, William had at least been part of Jim's life, unlike the mother that had abandoned them. The thought of losing him...suddenly Jim was the one having trouble breathing. It had been a long time since he’d felt so emotionally unsteady. 

William squeezed his hand again, harder this time, and when Jim looked up at him he nodded. 

"Okay, Dad," Jim said around the lump in his throat. "Okay." 

William closed his eyes, and it didn't take a Sentinel to see how exhausted he was. 

"Get some sleep. I'll be back to see you later, okay?" 

Jim let go of his dad's hand but, after a moment's hesitation, leaned over and kissed the top of his head. William didn't open his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched up in something that was almost a smile.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** So, I was contemplating the pneumonia square on my bingo card, and doing some reading about pneumonia online. I had the thought of doing a sick kid fic. But then I thought it might be more interesting to explore Jim's evolving relationship with his dad within this 'verse. So poor William had to suffer instead.


End file.
